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CONSIDERATIONS - 



I ^ iT^ ox THE USE OF 

THE PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY, 

ESFECIALLT ADDRESSED TO THE 

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 

W1THI5 THE LIMITS OF 

PIIIL.\DELPIIIA YEARLY MEETING. 



Philadelphia: 

merrihew and thompson, rri>ters, 

No. 7 Carter's Alley. 

1844. 



CONSIDERATIONS 



ON THE USE OF 



THE PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY, 

ISPECIALLI ADUnESSED TO THE 

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 

"WITHIX THE LIMITS OF 

PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING. 



n -^ 



Philadelphia: 

MERRIHEW & THOMPSOX, PRINTERS, 

No. 7 Carter's Alley. 
1844. 









/ Otf-'u ^^ 



A faithful testimony was borne against holding slaves by 
inJiviJuals in the Society of Friends, long before the Society 
itself was prepared to adopt such a testimony as a duty con- 
nected with pure Uhristiarjity. For a century past, numerous 
individuals hive maintained a/i^r/Aer testimony against Slave- 
ry, by abstaining from the use of its productions, and thereby 
avoided contributing to its support; hut, as a bod i/, the So- 
ciety has not yet adopted abstinence from the produce of slave 
labour as one of its testimonies. 

Believing that the principles of the Society, faithfully and 
consistently carried out, would lead to this abstinence, the 
compiler has felt constrained to offer the following "Consi- 
derations" to the calm, serious, and unprejudiced attention of 
his fellow-members. He has availed himself of arguments and 
observations which he has found in the printed and manuscript 
correspondence of other persons; hence the variety of style 
and the recurrence of similar or nearly similar ideas, which 
may be observed in the compilation. 



CONSIDERATIONS, &c. 



Ix the early settlement of America, when 
there was little known of the manner in which 
slaves were procured in Africa, and the pur- 
chase of them here was deemed favourable to 
both master and slave, Friends not only pur- 
chased and held slaves, but even engaged m the 
foreign slave-trade. At a very early period a 
few Friends were enlightened to see the sinful- 
ness of this trade, and after long and arduous 
labours with their brethren the practice was con- 
demned. Our worthy forefathers, however, 
continued to hold their slaves in bondage, be- 
cause they had not sufficiently examined the 
subject in the Light of Truth: for when in the 
course of a long series of years they became 
convinced that this practice also was wrong, 
they united in abolishhig it. Our Society havmg 
thus cleared itself of the sin of owning slaves, 
yet finds that millions of them are held in cruel 
bondage by our fellow-citizens and by the in- 
habitants of some other countries; and now, the 
very serious and awfully important question 
arises— whether in our commercial intercourse 
with these, or in paying the slaveholders for, 
and partakin,? of, that which they cruelly and 
wrongfully exact from their slaves, we are m 
1* 



6 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 

any degree encouraging the atrocious system or 
enjoying its fruits. 

That deeply instructed and faithful servant of 
Christ, John Woolman, declared " the trading 
in or frequent use of any produce known to be 
raised by the labours of those [slaves] who are 
under such lamentable oppression, hath appear- 
ed to be a subject which may yet require the 
more serious consideration of the humble fol- 
lowers of Christ, the prince of peace. After long 
and mournful exercise, I am now free to men- 
tion how things have opened in my mind, with 
desires that if it may please the \^ox^ further to 
open his will to any of his children in this 
7natter, they may faithfully follow him in 
such further manifestation.^^ 

It is well known that John Woolman declined 
the use of the productions of the labour of slaves, 
and that from his day down to the present, the 
same testimony has been upheld by many of 
our most prominent and worthy members. Be- 
lieving that the time of which he spoke has 
arrived when this subject demands our " most 
serious consideration/' and that the present state 
of slavery and the continued horrors of the fo- 
reign and domestic slave-trade loudly call us to 
faithfulness in tliis matter, we feel concerned to 
address our brethren in relation to it. 

" Deep rooted customs, though wrong, are not 
easily altered; but it is the duty of every one to 
be firm in that which they certainly know is 
right for them." " As men obtain reputation 
by their profession of the Truth, their virtues are 
mentioned as arguments in favour of general 



PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. / 

error; and those of less note to justify them- 
selves, sav, such and such good men did the 
like." "Customs generally approved, and opi- 
nions received by youth from their superiors, 
become like the natural produce of a soil, espe- 
cially when they are suited to favourite inclina- 
tions; but as the judgments of God, by which 
the state of the soul must be tried, are without 
partiality, it would be the highest wisdom to 
forego customs and popular opinions, and try 
the treasures of the soul by tlie infcillible stand- 
ard. Truth." — Woohnan. 

In reference to slavery itself, John Woolman 
inquires, *' whence is it tliat men who believe in 
a righteous omnipotent Being, to whom all na- 
tions stand equally related and are equally ac- 
countable, remain so easy in it, but that they do 
not discuss this matter ivith that candour and 
freedom of thought, luhich the cascjustty calls 
fjrV and this, we behevc, is one great reason 
why so many now remain easy in a custom 
which is the main support of slavery— the use 
of its productions. 

" Christ, our holy leader, graciously conti- 
nueth to open tlie understandings of his people, 
and as circumstances alter from age to age, some 
who are deeply baptised into a feeling of the 
state of things are led by his Holy Spirit into 
exercises in some respects different from those 
which attended the faithful in foregoing ages" 

"and from a clear convincement, may see 

the relation of one thins; to another, and the 
necessary tendency of each; and hence it may 
be absolutely binding on them to desist from 



8 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 

some parts of conduct^ which some good men 
have been in." — Woobnan. Thus it was in re- 
gard to a participation in the slave-trade and in 
slavery, and thus it is as respects the support of 
slavery by using its productions. 

^' Under a solemn sense of the awful load of 
guilt which is impending over our beloved coun- 
try, and of our share in the responsibiliti/, may 
we seriously and impartially examine what is 
required at our hands. '^ " If our hearts are 
softened and expanded by the love of God, wo 
shall be prepared to view these oppressed 
people as children of the same Almighty Father, 
equally with ourselves the objects of His divine 
regard, and of that salvation which comes by 
Jtisus Christ ; and thus be enabled to enter into 
a lively feeling of the miseries and hardships 
they endure; to put our souls in their souls' 
stead, and in singleness of heart to follow every 
clear opening of duty in their behalf, whatever 
sacrifice it may cost us, either of loorldly trea- 
sure or popularity.^' — Yearly Meeting Mi- 
nute, 1839. 

Let us then inquire by what means the vast 
and atrocious system of slavery is maintained, 
and upon whom the responsibility of its conti- 
nuance rests. The whole system is composed 
of parts necessarily connected with and depen- 
dent upon each other: — viz. man-stealing; slave- 
trading; slaveholding; buying and using the 
productions of slaver^^ We all acknowledge that 
a tremendous load of guilt rests somewhere. Is 
it upon the poor, ignorant, heathen Chief in 
Africa, who attacks a neighbourmg tribe and 



PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 9 

seizes his miserable victims for the slave-trader? 
Is it upon him who in performing his share of 
the dreadful business, furnishes the slaveholder 
with " human chattels?" Does the slaveholder 
in retaining tliem in bondage, incur the whole 
guilt of the system? For what does slavery, 
with all its abominations exist? Its gains. What 
supports slavery ? Tlie use of its productlom. 
If therefore, there was no contributor to its 
gains — no purchaser of its productions, it would 
of necessity cease. Is he guiltless who fur- 
nishes the incentive for its continuance and 
the means of its support? 

In tliis view of the subject, how plain is the 
course which our duty as Christians points out! 
"Cease to do evil;" "do justly;" "thou shall 
be far from oppression ;" " be not partakers of 
other men's sins;" "cleanse your hands, ye 
sinners;" ^' all things, whatsoever ye would that 
men should do unto you, do ye even so to 
them." 

If, indeed, slavery is the most monstrous evil 
of the times, wicked in itself, and dreadful in its 
consequences — depriving in this country alone, 
nearly three milUons of human beings of their 
right to act out the ends for which an all wise and 
bountiful Creator formed them; stilling His spirit 
in their hearts, and when through darkness it ma- 
nifests itself, disabling tlieni iVom following its re- 
quisitions; making, as far as human enactments 
and customs can make, the slave-master the 
slaves' God, and the slave, not a man created 
in God's image but a chattel, a brute, a tool — 
not his own but his master's: — if, indeed, slave- 



10 CONSIDERATIONS OX THE 

ry thus tramples under foot the highest princi- 
ples of moral obhgation, ought not all to avoid 
upholding it? And should not Friends espe- 
cially, who, above others, profess to be very de- 
licate in their preceptions of 7'ight, and firm in 
their adherence to it, refuse to sustain it by any 
means ? 

In a " Minute on Slavery," issued by our 
Yearly Meeting in 1S39, we find the following 
paragraphs : viz. — " The close connexion and in- 
timate intercourse which are maintained be- 
tween the different sections of our common 
country, through the diversified and widely 
spread channels of commerce and business, may, 
unless we are very watchful, blunt our sensibi- 
lities to the cruelties of slavery and diminish our 
abhorrence of its injustice. We wish tenderly 
to incite our dear friends to an individual in- 
quiry, with a single eye to the pointings of 
Truth, how far they are clear in these respects, 
and should such an examination awaken serious 
apprehensions as to any part of their traffic, that 
they may be willing to forego every prospect of 
gain, arising from the prosecution of business, 
which is incompatible with the purity of our re- 
hgious profession." 

What connexion and intercourse are here al- 
luded to ? Those with slaveholders. What part 
of their traffic is it that Friends may seriously ap- 
prehend is incompatible witli the purity of their 
religious profession? That composed of the 
productions of slave labour. Here then is the 
principle distinctly recognized by our Yearly 
Meeting, that a traffic in the productions of sla- 



PIIODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 11 

very tends to blunt our sensibilities to its cruel- 
ties, and diminish our abhorrence of its injustice, 
and may be found incompatible with the purity 
of our religious profession ; how then can the 
use of these productions be consistently indulged 
in or advocated? What difference exists in 
principle between our purchasing a bale of slave 
grown cotton, or a hogshead of slave made 
sugar, to sell it again for the support of our fa- 
milies, and our purchasing the same article to 
be used in them ? Does the turpitude of the 
transaction consist in our selling to another that 
which we may innocently use ourselves ? 

'' Seed sown with the tears of a confined, op- 
pressed people — harvests cut down by an over- 
borne, discontented reaper, make bread less 
sweet to the taste of an honest man, than that 
which is the produce or just reward of such vo- 
luntary action as is a proper part of the business 
of human creatures." — PVoolman. 

If our moral sense would revolt at holding a 
slave ourselves, it should also revolt at another's 
holding one. 

If it would revolt at using the unpaid toil of 
him we might so hold, it should also revolt at 
using the unpaid toil of him who is held by an- 
other. 

It is no argument for our partaking of the 
fruit of crime, that if we do not partake of it 
others will; and as therefore our abstinence will 
not arrest or mitigate the evil, we may inno- 
cently derive from it a good to ourselves. We 
do not know the premises to be true. God has 
made us moral instruments, and we are to act 



12 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 

as the medium tlirough which His ends are to 
be accomplished. So far as our means extend, 
we are to combat evil, as if its extirpation de- 
pended on our individual action. Does slavery 
exist for its gains, and would it cease if there 
were no purchaser of its productions ? If the 
answer be affirmative, could I, let each of us in- 
quire, morally be the purchaser ? Could I in- 
nocently hold up one end of a system which the 
slaveholder at the other would in vain attempt 
to sustain without me ? Does the circumstance 
that several join me in the purchase, make it 
right for me to do that conncctively, which to do 
singly was wrong I Do numbers annihilate re- 
sponsibility, and make me a virtuous partner in 
the mighty aggregate of wickedness? 

That the slave-trade and slavery exist only 
by reason of the use of the produce of slave la- 
bour — to obtain which is the sole end of the 
slave-trade, whether foreign or domestic, and of 
slavery with all its abominations — is so plain to 
every understanding, that it may be assumed as 
self-evident. Indeed, it is universally acknow- 
ledged that as respects manufactures, and the 
products of the earth raised by the labour of 
ivhites, the consumer who pays I lis money for 
such articles is the great supporter of those pro- 
ductions ; and of course, the same rule must be 
admitted in respect to the productions of the 
labour of blacks. 

But it is objected: — " God blesses the produce 
of the slaves' labour, and therefore in refusing 
to partake of it we do wrong, and call in ques- 
tion His goodness and His mercy." It is true 



PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 13 

His rain descends upon the just and the unjust; 
are we therefore to be partakers of the sins of 
the unjust? His light guides the robber to the 
work of evil — the murderer to the deed of death ; 
arc we hence to conchide that the robber and 
the murderer are right, or tfiat we may inno- 
cently })artake of tlie fruits of their deeds ? 

The inference from God's blessing the slaves' 
labour, if just, would be more comprehensively 
expressed thus: God has blessed the labour of 
slaves, therefore the holding of slaves is right ! 
But the rice, cotton and tobacco plants, the 
sugar cane and all other plants which are cuhi- 
vated by slaves, grow in accordance with a 
law which was established by the Almighty 
when he said, " Let the earth bring forth grass, 
the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yield- 
ing fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself 
upon the earth." Now His laws of nature are 
unalterable, except by His special intervention; 
and are we to conclude that because He does 
not thus interpose, and by a miracle blast all 
the plants cultivated by slaves. He therefore 
regards their labour with His especial favour 
and blessing I And because He does not send 
down fire from Heaven to destroy the oppressor 
— the slaveholder — that therefore He blesses 
slavery ! God blesses the labour of all, both 
freemen and slaves, in contemplation of His 
having benevolently given to the cultivator of 
the soil, the production of the sweat of his face. 
God changes not ; it is man who perverts and 
misuses His blessing. " When the earth is 
planted and tilled, and the fruits brought forth 
2 



14 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 

are applied to support unrighteous purposes; 
here the gracious design of infinite goodness in 
these his gifts being perverted, the earth is de- 
filed, and the complaint formerly uttered be- 
comes applicable, ' Thou hast made me to serve 
with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine 
miquities.' " — Woolmcin, 

We assert for man an ownership in the pro- 
duction of his own toil, unless alienated by 
his direct or implied consent: the exception be- 
ing an affirmation of the doctrine. The free- 
man cannot raise his arm to do an act of labour 
but that he feels the truth of this ownership. 
The Christian cannot read the history of man's 
fall and the accompanying promises, without 
perceiving that in the sentence which connect- 
ed labour with his condition, — "in the sweat 
of thy face shalt thou eat bread,'^ — the fruit 
of it was given to him. Thus both natural 
and revealed law accord to man the produce 
of his labour. It is true, that man in society 
parts with some of his rights that others 
may be the better secured; and thus is the 
primitive law rightfully modified by parties 
to the social compact, and is so modified in the 
matter of labour : though the justice of natural 
law is often affirmed in the granting of specific 
liens on workmanship performed. But shall 
the slave's right be mystified by the plea of 
having surrendered some of his rights that others 
may be assured to him .^ Who is he ? An 
outlaw ! What is he in contemplation of the 
social law ? A chattel ! What are his rights 
in that relation? He has none — not even 



PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 15 

the right to complain of being treated as 
the beasts that perish ! He has no lot in 
the social arrangement. The fruits, then, of 
the sweat of his brow belong to him, and he 
that takes them from him commits a robbery ; 
not the less true or monstrous because sanctified 
hy law. What, in this view of the case, are the 
rights of the slaveholder to the produce of the 
slave's labour? Can he create ownership to it 
l)y selling it to us ? Can we honestly buy it ? 

It is objected to the doctrine which rejects 
the use of slave produce, that "it cannot 
be carried out, and therefore is not a principle 
having its foundation in the Truth/' The same 
objection applies with equal force to a testimony 
against war ; it might also be applied to other 
doctrines of morality. But shall we, for these 
objections, commit war, by giving it encourage- 
ment when we can avoid it ? Must we commit 
acts of dishonesty or other immorality, when we 
can freely act to the contrary? Must we forego 
all good, because we cannot accomplish ever?/ 
good ? 

The use of gold and silver (some of which is 
taken from the mines by slaves) is particularly 
charged as an inconsistency, and as a proof that 
it is impracticable to avoid the use of the pro- 
ductions of slavery. Now it is well known 
that during war, more or less gold and silver 
coin is found in prize-ships, and of course is 
thrown into general circulation ; and those who 
refuse to purchase prize-goods which, by in- 
quiry, may be identified as such, do not decline 
the use of coin because a portion of it, which 



16 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 

cannot by any means be distinguished, has been 
obtained in war. These cases are sufficiently 
parallel to show, that if in the first we are justi- 
fiable in using all articles procured Avrongfully 
in slavery ; in the latter, we may lawfully pur- 
chase prize-goods of every description. 'As a 
general fact, it is easier to avoid the productions 
of slavery, which are limited to a few articles, 
than those of war, which have no such limita- 
tion; yet no one contends that the avoidance of 
the productions of war is less a duty than the 
avoidance of the productions of slavery. 

Some say " there must be as great ?n evil in 
partaking of productions made through oppres- 
sion, whether free or otherwise, for all oppres- 
sion must be wrong." In reply to this, we may, 
in the first place, suggest that a remarkable 
difierence exists in regard to the effects of using 
the productions of the two classes alluded to. 
Let us take the British manufacturers for in- 
stance ; a class generally compared, by certain 
writers, with American slaves. What is the 
effect upon their condition of our using the 
productions of their labour ? Why just in pro- 
portion to the increase of that use, and the 
consequent increase of demand, is the condition 
of the labourer improved, and his oppression 
lessened. The greater the demand for his labour, 
the higher are his wages; and his means of 
comfort and enjoyment are proportionably in- 
creased. Thus the more we use of the produc- 
tions of his labour, the greater is the benefit we 
bestow upon him. But how does our use of 
the productions of slavery affect the condition 



PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 17 

of the slave ? When do the slaves in point of 
acknowledged fact fare the worst? When there 
is a hrisk market for the productions of their 
unrequited toil. It is then tliat the whip is in- 
cessantly applied— then that the slaves are 
forced to labour twenty hours out of every 
twenty-four— then that the loss often to twenty 
per cent, of his slaves annually by overwork is 
disregarded by the slaveholder! And when 
does the slave'fare the best? When the demand 
for the produce of his labour stagnates. The 
oft heard prayer of the slave, who, in the sim- 
plicity of his heart, asks of his Heavenly Father 
that cotton may be tow, speaks volumes to 
this point. 

Secondly. We do not object to the use of the 
productions of slavery, merely or principally, 
on the ground of the oppression, or of any 
abuses to which the slaves are liable; but be- 
cause slaveny is in itself inherently and neces- 
sarily sinful: and herein it diliers from all 
systems of mere oppression. Without referring 
at all to the abuses of slavery, let us inquire 
how, as by law established, it necessarily ^fi^cAs 
the slave. 

" 1st. It debars an immortal and accountable 
being, charged with no crime, from the pursuit 
of happiness, and reduces hnn to an article of 
merchandise. 

" 2d. It dooms ^his posterity to degradation 
and bondage. 

''3d. It annihilates the marriage relation by 
refusing to acknowlege it, and authorises the 
master to separate those whom God hath joined. 



IS CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 

" 4th. It annihilates the parental relation by 
tranferring to the master the authority given by 
God to the parent, and authorising him to sell 
the children like cattle in the market. 

" 5th. It annihilates the right of conscience ; 
giving to the master the entire dominion over 
the time and conduct of the slave." — Judge 
Jay. 

These properties of slavery are essential^con- 
stituent elements of the system. Take any one 
of them away, and it cannot exist. The sin of 
slavery then consists not so much in the cruelty 
of the master, as in the annihilation of the rights 
of human nature. It has been, we apprehend, 
with such views as these, and on such principles, 
that our religious Society has discriminated 
between the system of slavery and other op- 
pressions, and has felt bound to hold up a pecu- 
liar testimony against it. 

It is said, "if the principle of abstinence was 
carried out, many persons would have to leave 
their accustomed business and seek new employ- 
ment ; trade itself would be subjected to a con- 
vulsion, the extent of which could not be 
foreseen." So thought the shrine-makers at 
Ephesus when the light of Christianity dawned 
upon them ! Shall we for such reasons, or in 
contemplation of any privation or difficulty, 
serve mammon rather than God ? And is He, 
who so loved us that he gave for us his only be- 
gotten Son, to make all the sacrifice ? 

We are told that in retusing to use the pro- 
duce of slave labour, we adopt a compulsory 
measure, and undertake to 



PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 19 

holder to liberate his slaves. If there was any 
force or truth in this objection, it would also 
apply to our testimony against supporting war. 
On what principle do we decline purchasing 
articles captured in war ? Not to " coerce" na- 
tions into peace, but to wash our own hands in 
innocency from the blood of our fellow men, 
and as a testimony against the injustice of using 
property that has been wrested from the right- 
ful owners by violence. John Woolman used 
such coercion towards the slaveholders; such 
coercion the Christian must ever use when he 
withdraws his countenance and support from 
crime. Is it compulsion to refuse to purchase a 
stolen jewel of a thief, or contraband goods 
of a smuggler? Is it compulsion to refuse to 
share in the plunder of a pirate, or to hold fel- 
lowship with the oppressor ? Those who object 
to abstinence from the productions of slavery on 
the plea that it is a coercive measure, should re- 
member that by usitig those productions they 
enable the slaveholder to coerce his slaves into a 
condition of cruel bondage, and deprive them 
of their rights as human beings ! 

If a refusal to purchase the productions of 
slavery while it is leqal, and the slaveholders 
are not convinced of its sinfulness, be justly con- 
sidered an improperly coercive measure, how 
can we avoid placing the conduct of our fore- 
fathers in the same light, when they refused to 
purchase the miserable victims of the foreign 
slave-trade, while it was sanctioned and encou- 
raged by law, and the traders still viewed it as 
a legitimate branch of commerce ? Or, how can 



20 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 

we ask, or approve a law to prevent, by prohi- 
bitory enactments, the continuance of the do- 
mestic slave-trade or any other immoral act, 
while those engaged in it remain insensible of 
its sinfulness? 

God has commanded us " not to be partakers 
in other men's sins ;'' and surely if He regards 
with displeasure the slaveholder, whose educa- 
tion and habits from early childhood have tend- 
ed to weaken his abhorrence of oppression, and 
cause him to regard slavery, if not as a righteous 
institution, at least as a necessary evil ; how can 
we, who have seen its iniquity and felt for the 
captive's wrong ; who are professedly anxious 
for its overthrow, and yet join hands with the 
oppressor — u})holding him in his sin, and shar- 
ing in his plunder — expect to be found guiltless 
in His sight ? 

But an apology for the use of slave produce 
is sought for in the precepts given by the apostle 
Paul to the Corinthians, respecting the use of 
meats dedicated to idols, and peculiar to the iso- 
lated case of idol worship. The advocates of 
slavery itself represent Paul as justifiying it, 
when he sent back to Philemon his near kins- 
man and confidential servant, Onesimus, with 
directions to receive him, *' not now as a ser- 
vant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, 
both in the flesh and in the Lord," adding, " If 
he hath wronged thee or oweth thee aught, put 
that on mine account ; I Paul have written it 
with my own hand, I will repay it." 

With equal fairness has his doctrine forbid- 
ding the use of meats oflfered unto idols, wiien 



PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 21 

the dedication was known, yet allowing their 
use when it was unknown, and prohibiting in- 
quiry as to such dedication, been taken out of 
its legitimate case and construed into a general 
rule of morality ; and the direction belonging to 
that case, " Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, 
that eat, asking no question for conscience sake," 
converted into an aphorism for the common 
purposes of life, in our daily intercourse with 
the wickedness abounding in the world, to tlie 
great prejudice of sound morality. 

It is obvious the rule must extend to all cases 
of things procured wrongfully, if it is made to 
apply to any case of things so procured. Thus, 
under cover of it, no matter what circumstances 
of atrocity, violence or fraud may have attended 
the procurement of an article; no matter what 
suspicions may have assailed our minds, as to 
the bad concomitants of such procurement, if 
we keep ourselves prudently ignorant of the 
express facts, we may innocently buy and enjoy 
the thing ! This has been termed, a Christian 
liberty! Pagan freedom, with an honest pur- 
pose, would disdain the privilege: but pagan or 
pseudo-Christian, it falls to pieces by the weight 
of its own enormity ! 

The true meaning of the Apostle rises above 
this miserable system of connivance with wrong. 
The brethren converted from heathenism were 
in perpetual danger when there v/as presented 
to them food which they knew to be dedicated 
to an idol, of relapsing into the condition of 
idolaters; momentarily, it maybe presumed, but 
still with great prejudice to their confirmation 



22 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 

in true piety. There was nothing appertaining 
to the food itself, produced by the dedication, 
which made its use criminal. The evil, wholly 
a mental one, existed in the knowledge of the 
dedication, which operating on infirm con- 
sciences, tended to re-excite in the minds of the 
converted brethren those feelings of false wor- 
ship which had been habitual to them on eating 
food so consecrated. Under these circumstances, 
it was the part of true wisdom to prohibit the 
inquiry after that knowledge, which, when ac- 
quired, might be a snare and temptation ; as it 
also was, though in a greater degree, to prohibit 
the use of the food when the knowledge of its 
dedication had arrived. Let Paul be heard in 
explanation of his own rule : '' As concerning 
therefore the eating of those things that are of- 
fered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that au 
idol is nothing in the world, and that there is 
none other God but one. How be it, there is 
not in every man that knowledge, for some with 
conscience of the idol unto this hour, eat it as a 
thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience 
being weak, is defiled." 

It is a general remark that ^' if we do not pur- 
chase and use the products of the slave's labour, 
their masters will not be able to feed them, and 
they must starve." This is overlooking the 
main question whether such use is right or 
wrong, and acting on the false principle, that 
"the end justifies the means." If such use be 
wrong, no good consequences resulting from it, 
can make it right. But to assert that the slaves 
must starve if we do not purchase the products 



PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 23 

of their labour, is assuming a fact without proof 
and against probability. Will the climunition 
of demand for these products give them more 
or less time to raise the food necessary to their 
own existence ? Cut off wholly the demand for 
these productions,'will it cut off the right arm of 
the slave — that power of labour which his Crea- 
tor gave him by which to raise his daily food ? 
Will the master from sheer depravity, compel 
his slaves to be idle and to starve, because others 
will not buy of him the productions of extorted 
labour ? 

But suppose the slave would starve unless 
we contributed to his support : the question then 
arises, in what way shall we so contribute as to 
make justice and benevolence coincident? To 
answer this let us take a sufficiently parallel 
case. A man engaged in a piratical trade, sus- 
tains by it his wife and an innocent family of chil- 
dren. He applies to us to buy of him his ill- 
gotten wares, which we refuse to do on princi- 
ple. He then urges that those who are depen- 
dent on him must starve, unless he can take 
back with him the means of supplying them with 
food. The appeal is made to us in such since- 
rity as to lead us to inquire how we can make 
our sense of immutable justice, and our inclina- 
tion to succour the innocent and helpless, to 
act together consistently. What would be our 
necessary conclusion ? Obviously this : to con- 
tinue to reject the goods, and yet to give gra- 
tuitously the aid which we should deem due to 
the occasion. 

Let us trace out the reasonable consequences 



24 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 

of disusing the produce of slave-labour. " Supply 
follows demands This is an undisputed axiom 
of commerce, and within tlie limits of a physi- 
cal ability to furnish the supply, is as true as that 
"shade follows substance." The tnanner of 
the supply is just as much under the control of 
the demander as the matter, provided he is 
willing to pay a fair equivalent for the manner. 
Commerce is without a conscience of its own, 
yet bows to the dictation of its customer's con- 
science. It is then the index to that conscience. 
The consideration here involved indicates a two- 
fold duty — to demand that which is just in the 
manner of its procurement, and to avoid that 
which is unjustly procured. The business of 
the Christian's life is to struggle for the advance- 
ment of virtuous principles and to discourage 
the opposite. Individuals in various places ap- 
preciating this truth, refuse to be accessary to 
the creation of a demand for goods produced by 
slave-labour. Each of such individuals has 
his own numerical value, besides his moral in- 
fluence extending around him, and adding ones, 
tens and hundreds to the espousal of the doc- 
trine that it is unjust to use those productions, 
and a decided impression is made on the market 
for slave goods. No slaveholder would add to 
his slaves under a decaying demand for the pro- 
ductions of slavery. Hence amongst the first 
fruits of abstinence from their use, we should 
expect to see some ships, ceasing to be freighted 
for the slave trade ; some wars ceasing to be 
created on the African coast ; some of the " thou- 
sand daily victims" ceasing to be offered to the 



PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 25 

Moloch of Slavery ; some of the home nurseries 
for propagating men as cattle ceasing to exist; 
but all this unaccompanied by starvation. Men 
do not starve because slaveships rot ; because 
there are no wars in Africa; because fewer die 
in the middle passage and in seasoning, or be- 
cause men are less encouraged to the rearing of 
domestic slaves. 

I'hus the first impression, it is seen, would be 
on the outskirts of slavery, and would prevent 
starvinsf and other su2:o;ested miseries to our 
species. The slaveholders, seeing the approach 
towards them of a more elevated public senti- 
ment, would meet the change — not by starving 
tlieir miserable slaves into some new submis- 
sions, — but by changing their condition l^rom 
chattels to men. This change would be com- 
menced, doubtlessly, by a few of themostenlight- 
ened slaveholders, with whom the history of 
the transition of the British West Indian slaves 
into the state of freemen, stripped now of all 
gorgon terrors, is familiar ; and perceiving there 
is really an honest testimony abroad against 
slavery which refuses all participation in its 
fruits, and which they had previously suspected 
to be false because of the short coming of the 
proclaimers of that testimony, they will enter 
themselves into the spirit of the reform, and 
meet the sentiment in its fulness. The example 
of these would spread, as did the testimony 
among the non-slaveholders against the use of 
slave produce; and commensurate to the growth 
with us of this testimony would be the volun- 
tary extension by them of enlightened and happy 
3 



26 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 

freedom to slaves now groaning under a dark 
and merciless bondage. 

In the support of their testimony against icm% 
Friends are accustomed to act on principle. 
They do not say, we must pay taxes to support 
war ; we must buy goods taken in icar, and 
render it all the aid in our power short of fight- 
ing ourselves: — otherwise an enemy may come 
and burn our cities, lay waste our country and 
destroy our wives and children. But in regard 
to their testimony against slavery^ their conduct 
and their language proclaim — it is indeed wrong 
for us to hold slaves ; but while others hold 
them and are not convinced of the sinfulness of 
the custom, it would not be right for us to with- 
draw our support from them, or to refuse to buy 
goods taken wrongfully and by violence in sla- 
very: — otherwise the masters and their families 
may sufter many inconveniences and the slaves 
must starve. Why this difference in our prac- 
tice? Why do we act on principle and \n faith 
in one case, and on our notions of expediency 
and a calculation of consequences, in the other.? 

Again, in the " Ancient Testimony" recently 
published by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 
alluding to tiie payment of the pecuniary de- 
mands in lieu of military trainings, it is justly 
said, "Hov/ever remote the connection may 
seem between the payment of such a fine and 
the cruel operations of active warfare, they are 
parts of the same iniquitous system.'^ Surely if 
we were not blinded by custom and self-interest, 
we would perceive that the connection between 
the traffic and use of the productions of slavery 



FRODUCTIOJ^S OF SLAVERY. 27 

on the one hand, and the cruelties and insepa- 
rable wickedness of slave-trading and slave- 
holding on the other, is still more intimate and. 
direct, and that they are truly and necessarily 
" parts of the same iniquitous system." 

Wars are not entered into simply for the sake 
of the prize goods which may be taken ; but sla- 
very and the slave-trade exist solely for the sake of 
the productions of the slave's labour. In a higher 
sense then the duty of abstinence from these pro- 
ductions is obvious. We hold it is a violation 
of our testimony against war to use prize goods; 
why is it not in a greater degree a violation of 
our testimony against slavery to use the goods 
which are its avails ? We should be startled at 
the proposition that a Friend was " in no wise" 
concerned in supporting war, or in countenanc- 
ing and encouraging the evil whilst he freely 
used its productions. Shall we be less startled 
at the proposition that he is not " hi any ivise 
concerned in the purchasing, disposing or hold- 
ing of mankind as slaves," and does, " by no 
means encourage or countenance a traffic in 
slaves," whilst he freely uses, buys and sells, 
that for the procuring of which slaves are held 
and the traffic in slaves exists? 

Wliat will it avail the slaves for us " to dwell 
under a lively feeling of the wrongs of our fellow 
men, and of the enormity of the system by 
which they are enslaved and oppressed," if we 
refuse to bear a practical testimony against 
that system, and on the contrary, continue to 
give it our effective support? '^ Let us beware 
at' resting in a bai^c ack7iowleds;ement, even of 



28 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 

the most sound and consistent principles ; ever 
remembering that a profession of the Truth 
will add to our condemnation, if we are not en- 
deavouring to live in conformity with it.'' — 
Jincient Testimony^ <^'C. 

We are told that we shall have no reward for 
attempting to do good in our own wills: and it 
is most uncharitably assumed that those who 
are labouring in this cause are so doing. Would it 
not be as well to inquire what our reward will 
be for persisting to do evil in our own ivills; 
and whether, when our understandings are con- 
vinced, it be not presumptuous to ask a further 
extension of Divine revelation, before we cease 
to be the cause of oppressing our fellow-crea- 
tures? "Shall we continue in sin that grace may 
abound? God forbid." To abstain from doing 
wrong is always safe, and what is morally 
wrong, can never be religiously right. 

It is sometimes said, that " using articles raised 
by slaves may be right for some, and ivrong for 
others." This is morally impossible, for the 
outward obligations of justice between man and 
man are immutably the same, and are equally 
binding upon all, since all are required to "do 
justly." We are far from saying that all who 
use the productions of slavery are necessarily 
sinners. Guilt and innocence^ depend in many 
instances, on motives and belief; but in all cases, 
right and wrong are determined by the unalter- 
able laws of God. If we shut out the light and 
refuse to comply with its requisitions we sin. 
When we feel convictions for doing wrong, and 
disobey the manifestations of duty, we incur 



PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 29 

guilt. On these principles, we cannot conclemn 
all our worthy ancestors who were slave-traders, 
and slave-holders as sinners ; although the 
former committed an act, which is now declared 
piracy and is punishable with death by the laws 
of several nations; nor do we condemn as sin- 
ners all those who support slavery by using its 
productions, although we believe they are com- 
mitting a grievous wrong. 

Our Discipline condemns the hiring of slaves 
when their wages are paid to those who claim 
the right of ownership over them. (See Discip- 
line, p. 129.) Now let us suppose a slavehold- 
er, having a certain number of slaves, has em- 
ployment on his farm for only half of them, and 
one of his neighbours, a Friend, hires the other 
half to cultivate his farm and pays their wages 
to their master. Another Friend who has no 
land, and resides a mile, or a hundred miles, or 
suppose a thousand miles distant, purchases for 
consumption in his family, all the surplus grain, 
meat, potatoes and other produce of the slave- 
holder's farm and pays him for them, either 
personally or by the hands of an agent. Do the 
slaves who work in their master's field receive 
from this Friend the price of their labour? Cer- 
tainly not. It is evident then that in both cases 
the slaveholder receives the price of his slaves' 
labour, and it is paid by the two Friends ; who 
thus equally countenance and encourage slave- 
ry. One purchases the labour of the slaves, 
the other, the produce of their labour; if there 
is any diflerence it is in word only — tiiere can 
be none in principle. 

3* 



so CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 

Again, our Discipline"* proliibits the buying 
and selling of prize-goods. Tiie term prize- 
goods, literally s\^\-\\{f\ii^ goods taken, is nsually 
understood to describe goods taken from the 
rightful owner by force, in war. Our Discipline 
so applies it. The morality, however, of the 
prohibition is not contingent on the last circum- 
stance; but is co-extensive with the forcible and 
wrongful taking of the goods of others. If sla- 
very be indeed war, though in disguise, then, 
upon the most rigid construction, are the pro- 
ductions of the slaves' labour prize-goods of 
war, because they are the gains contemplated 
to be obtained by it. It is certain slavery could 
not exist for a moment without the war power. 
It is its breath and life. We may not perhaps 
hear the sound of its drum, or the roar of its 
artillery, but we perceive its presence as certain- 
ly in making and sustaining slavery, as we do 
tliat of the sun in giving light, though its face be 
obscured by intervening clouds. But not to in- 
sist on the identity of war and slavery, they are 
at least collateral wrongs to which the same 
rules morally apply. It is just as proper, then, 
to speak of the prize-gcods of slavery, as to 
speak of the prize-goods of war ; and altogether 
proper to consider the disuse of either as equally 
obligatory. The robbery of the humble and de- 

* We fervently desire that the members of our religious 
society \nd.y carefully avoid engaging in any trade or busi- 
ness promotive of war; sharing or partaking of the spoils 
of war by purchasing or selling prize-goods, &c." — Dis- 
cipline^ p. 145. 



PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 31 

fenceless labourer is not more perfect when the 
product of Ills past toil is taken from him by 
war, than when his faculties of labour being 
seized upon, \\\q future production of that labour 
is taken to the use of his oppressor by slavery. 

Our Discipline, among other inhibitions aim- 
ing to disconnect us from all participancy in 
war, expresses the fervent " desire that the 
members of our religious society may carefully 
avoid engaging in any trade or hvxsme^s promo- 
tive of war.'' ^ On the suggestions already made 
it must be obvious that the avoidance of any 
trade or \)W^\\\qs?> promotive of slavery^ is a pa- 
rallel if not an included duty. 

Overlooking the end for which slavery exists, 
it has been contended that however wrongful 
may be the holding of a slave and the using of 
him as an instrument of labour, there is no wrong 
in taking and using the fruits of his coerced 
labour. These, it is said, do not belong to him ; 
they have been grown on his master's soil, and 
withal are the increase of the earth — the good 
gifts of heaven to man — which we are thank- 
fully to accept and use. 

Let it be granted that no man is created to be 
a slave, but that every man is entitled to the 
proper use of himself, and it must follow that 
the results of that use should be accorded to him 
also: otherwise the grant would be a mere nul- 
lity. Obviously then, the man who is compelled 
to work for another, the fruits of his work being 
taken to that other's use, is robbed of those re- 
sults. The aggression, overlooking the protract- 



32 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 

ed torture of the labourer, is as perfect as any 
act of piracy can be, and is identical in spirit 
with it. 

The gift of " the increase of the earth" is 
doubtless to all mankind. It is deeper, and 
higher and stronger, than right conferred by 
parchment and seal. But it is a gift proceeding 
in an orderly manner: first, to the caltivator, and 
thence through him, according to fixed laws of 
moral action, to the consumer or user. There is 
no gift to one of another's coerced industry, any 
more than there is of his person, or any more 
than there is a gift of the earth's increase to the 
robber, who neither toils for nor bnys it, or to 
the purchaser from that robber, though his plea 
may be that he has " no control" of the robbery. 

Conceding, however, to him who holds a pa- 
tent for the soil, all the rights it c^y\ justly give 
him, he has no patent to the man, and as much 
superior as is iman to the dust he treads upon, 
are his rights to those of the other when they 
come in collision. 

Although a faithful testimony has been main- 
tained for a century past by many Friends 
against using the productions of slaverj^, yet it 
is very apparent that Friends /loi^ generally use 
them, — ho-w freely ; under what degree of exa- 
mination of the subject ; how much influenced 
by one looking to the example of another; how 
much by aversion to sect or person ; how much 
by connections of trade, and considerations of 
interest or mere convenience — must be left to 
individual consciences ; stimulated, we should 



PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. S3 

hope, by a sense of accountability in the matter 
Avhich all ought to cherish. That Friends should 
buy and sell such productions and grow ricii in 
the traffic; that they should I'eed upon and clothe 
themselves unreservedly and sumptuously with 
what has cost the slave his liberty — his life* — 
his enjoyment of all that g;ives existence its 
value, or elevates man above the beasts which 
perish, is to us a very sorrowful reflection. We 
believe the Society of P'riends is called to hold 
up totheviewof the world the true principles and 
testimonies of Christianity — not only sound doc- 
trines but pure morals. In relation to this sub- 
ject the true principle is doubtless within the 
church. It is set forth in the rules of the Society 
on collateral subjects ; in its particular rules re- 
garding slavery, which forbid our '^ doing any- 



* The late Dr. Channinfr, speaking- of llie slave-trade 
and slavery of Cuba, said "We do much to sustain this 
system of horror and blood. The Cuban slave-trade is 
carried on in vessels built especially for this use in Ame- 
rican ports. These vessels often sail under the American 
flaCT, and are aided by American merchantmen, and as is 
feared, by American capital. Andthis is not all ,- the sugar, 
in prudiicinjT vvliich so many of our fellow-creatures perish 
niisoral)ly, is shipped in great quantities to this country. 
We are the cxLstumers tcho htini.ilale bi/ our demands, this iii- 
ff.rnnl cruch y . And knowing this, shall we become acces- 
sories to the murder of our brethren, by continuing to use 
the fruit of the hard-wrung toil which destroys them ] 
The sugar of Cuba comes to us drenched with human hluod. 
So we cught to see it, and turn from it with loathing. 
The guilt which produces it ought to be put down by the 
spontaneous, in->tinctive horror of the civilized world." 



84 COXSIDERATIONS ON THE 

thing whereby" the slaves' " bondage may be 
prolonged," our being " in any wise concerned 
in holding mankind as slaves," our using ^^ any 
means*' which " encourage or countenance a 
traffic in slaves," and our " hiring a slave or 
slaves;" and in its advice to its members, in 
view of the connection between the different 
sections of our country through commerce, inti- 
mating that this connection may '"' blunt our 
sensibilities to the cruelties of slavery, and di- 
minish our abhorrence of its injustice," and de- 
siring '^ that they may be willing to forgo the 
prospect of gain arising from the prosecution of 
business which is incompatible with the purity 
of our religious profession:" \.\\q purity of our 
religious profession being, we may well suppose, 
that which Christianity requires — freedom from 
admixture with, or being the occasion of sin ; 
and thus, in the present instance of slavery. If, 
therefore, our practice carries out impartially the 
same rule of action in the circumstances where 
slavery and ordinary war are alike ; if it does 
not prolong the bondage of slaves ; if it in no wise 
holds slaves ; if it is no means by which a traffic 
in slaves is encouraged and countenanced ; if it 
does not hire slaves: if it does not blunt our sen- 
sibilities to the cruelties of slavery and diminish 
our abhorrence of its injustice ; if, in fine, it 
comes up to the standard of Christian purity, 
then may we perhaps rest satisfied in its conti- 
nuance. 

It is, however, a solemn and incontrovertible 
truth that the awful complex of crime and in- 



PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 35 

justice which we call slavery, exists solely by 
consent of the users of slave produce, and would 
cease if the using was withdrawn. It is the 

MARKET FOR SLAVE PRODUCE WHICH MAKES 

SLAVERY ! The question then is simple and the 
answer obvious which regards our duty under 
this circumstance. But simple and obvious as 
they are, many are the interests ; many the en- 
joyments ; many the prejudices adverse to a just 
and spontaneous decision — each interposing its 
respective pleas for indulgence and exerting its 
respective power of refracting and obscuring the 
light. 

If, in tliis concern, we simply '' pursue the 
course which our duty as men and as Christians re- 
quires, we may rely on the wisdom and good- 
ness of God, who governs all consequences, to 
reward our endeavours and bless the work of 
our hands. '^ Let us dismiss all fears that in 
keeping our consciences void of offence toward 
God and toward man, we shall hurt our bro- 
ther. With the same faith in which we inquire, 
"who ever saw the righteous forsaken, or his 
seed begging bread," we may also ask, who 
ever saw the carrying out of righteous princi- 
ples lead to conclusions injurious to humanity ? 

Finally, we can adopt the language of John 
Woolman : " such are the purity and certainty 
of [the Lord's] judgments, that He cannot be 
partial in our favour. In infinite love and good- 
ness He hath opened our understandings from 
one time to another concerning our duty to- 
wards this people, and it is not a time for delay. 
Should we now be sensible of what He requires 



36 CONSIDERATIONS, ETC. 



of US, and through a respect to the private inte- 
rests of some persons, or through a rec^ard to 
some friendships which do not stand on\n im- 
mutable foundation, [or from any other cause] 
neglect to do our duty in firmness and con- 
stancy, still ivaiting for some extraordinary 
means to bring about their deliverance, it may 
be that God may answer us in this matter, hv 
terrible things in righteousness.'^ 



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